Thursday, February 2nd, 2012 Today was a normal RATz meeting so we just went to the meeting and stayed there to observe. Around 8 Mrs. Herrold a.k.a. Debby Downer thought it would be too cloudy but it cleared up enough to see Venus, Jupiter, the Orion Nebula and The Moon. Saturday, February 4th, 2012 Went to Zach's house at 7:30 and stayed until about 12:30. I was at my Mom's house and couldn't bring my dob (you betcha I get hell for it). We tried to find as much as we could before the clouds started creeping in. I tried to find the Crab Nebula (M1) with Zach's telescope (which by the way tilts slowly downwards but apparently he's "used to it" --not OK) but, of course, the stupid moon was too bright and I couldn't find it... I could only try to use Orion to hop to it. The whirlpool galaxy however was very easy to find, it was very clear. Zach for some reason just loves finding random star clusters so I saw some of those that he found. Oh, by the way it was INSANELY cold... so Zach made me and Chris coffee in between to stop from dieing. (Richard is lame, ergo he doesn't like coffee). I wish I had my telescope tonight but it was nice to actually see some things clearly and not in between the demons called clouds. Thursday, February 9th, 2012 Observing night at school. I again attempted to get the moon on the television monitor and try to record it, I got it on the monitor but no go in the recording part. I... ACCIDENTLY... made The Moon the Orion Nebula on Mrs. Herrold's go-to telescope.. for the record it wasn't my fault it was acting weird in the first place. But, all in all, I saw the moon, the Orion Nebula, and some star clusters. Saturday, March 3rd, 2012 Debby Downer was right... It was too cloudy. But trooper we are me and Richard came to school around 10 and looked at some lovely clouds. Tuesday, March 6th, 2012 I was forced to buy pizza that I was even going to eat... so I got to school around 7. Richard and Mrs. Herrold were there setting up. I set up the television to "Big Blue" and of course that was a challenge. I have no idea how cords can ever become that tangled. Anyway, some of the teachers from Saturday came to see us in action and we showed them the moon, the Orion Nebula, Venus, and Mars with a green filter which required me taking the camera out of the telescope so we didn't mess around the the VCR too much. Through all of this Zach lost his keys... and we spent a good I don't know hour looking for them in the grass, in the office, down the drains in his car everywhere. They ended up being in his trunk.... ridiculous. The boys tried to find comet Garrard with the laser and the Giant binoculars but I don't think they ever did find it. Saturn came out at about 10:30 but by then I had to go since there was ACT testing the next day. Friday, March 10th, 2012 Had Richard and Chris come over to my house, we couldn't find Zach and/or he decided to not answer his phone. They finally got to see my telescope, it IS real. Anyway, my viewfinder is broken so it was really hard to find anything, then I found out my lenses were extremely dirty. Chris used his little kit and cleaned them as I made him some tea. I used my 25 with barlow to look at the moon, and I couldn't even find that. To make it worse it was extremely cold. I tested in on Procyon and I could find that. I attempted to find things in the big dipper... I didn't get far. I'm going to try to fix the finder tomorrow and try it out tomorrow night since it's supposed to be clear. Saturday, March 11th, 2012 We moseyed on over to Liggett track field.............................. wow. This will definitely be our new observing spot, you could see literally everything and it was such a dark sky with hardly any clouds (until Chris showed up, of course). I came from a dinner at a family friend's house so I couldn't bring my scope, but I had a lovely time observing with my eyes. Mars' reddish color was clearly visible, and at about 10:30 Saturn was about, prospectively, four to five inches away from the moon. I think Chris found the dark eye nebula... I don't know, he has this awesome habit of finding things and not telling us until he's moved to a completely different part of the sky. A nice thing being on a track field is when you're cold you can just run the track! By the end of the night I'd say I ran that track about four times... good conditioning for tennis. We also had a hug fest and I got taught how to put someone in a head lock. Very productive and fun night. :) Thursday, April 5th, 2012 Zach, Chris, Scott, Scott's friend Ryan, and I all observed at my house started at around 8:30. I set it up all nice with a tarp, two chairs, and a table to put all our random lens and such on, I was impressed with myself. My stupid view finder is still broken, and I have no idea if there's a battery or not so I had to attempted to find things with no finder. I found the basics including the moon, venus, and the orion nebula but I mostly piggy backed on whatever Zach and Chris were looking at. I know Chris found comet Garrard within the night and much else. I can't wait until the weather is actually WARM because I can't stand these freezing cold nights of having to put on numerous layers of tights on. Arizona can't come soon enough.
Tuesday, June 5th, 2012Today we came to school at about six to watch the transit of Venus. Unfortunatly, it was overcast, but when we got a break in the clouds we could see Venus through the solar glasses Mrs. Herrold provided. Chris got all his professional photographer set up to take a picture but I got a lovely picture through Big Blue with just my iPhone (it's posted in my photos). It was very interesting to see the planet in perspective of the sun. However, being sensative to light this project kinda sucked for me, but I'm a trooper! This was quite a once-in-alifetime experience, literally.
Today was a normal RATz meeting so we just went to the meeting and stayed there to observe. Around 8 Mrs. Herrold a.k.a. Debby Downer thought it would be too cloudy but it cleared up enough to see Venus, Jupiter, the Orion Nebula and The Moon.
Saturday, February 4th, 2012
Went to Zach's house at 7:30 and stayed until about 12:30. I was at my Mom's house and couldn't bring my dob (you betcha I get hell for it). We tried to find as much as we could before the clouds started creeping in. I tried to find the Crab Nebula (M1) with Zach's telescope (which by the way tilts slowly downwards but apparently he's "used to it" --not OK) but, of course, the stupid moon was too bright and I couldn't find it... I could only try to use Orion to hop to it. The whirlpool galaxy however was very easy to find, it was very clear. Zach for some reason just loves finding random star clusters so I saw some of those that he found. Oh, by the way it was INSANELY cold... so Zach made me and Chris coffee in between to stop from dieing. (Richard is lame, ergo he doesn't like coffee). I wish I had my telescope tonight but it was nice to actually see some things clearly and not in between the demons called clouds.
Thursday, February 9th, 2012
Observing night at school. I again attempted to get the moon on the television monitor and try to record it, I got it on the monitor but no go in the recording part. I... ACCIDENTLY... made The Moon the Orion Nebula on Mrs. Herrold's go-to telescope.. for the record it wasn't my fault it was acting weird in the first place. But, all in all, I saw the moon, the Orion Nebula, and some star clusters.
Saturday, March 3rd, 2012
Debby Downer was right... It was too cloudy. But trooper we are me and Richard came to school around 10 and looked at some lovely clouds.
Tuesday, March 6th, 2012
I was forced to buy pizza that I was even going to eat... so I got to school around 7. Richard and Mrs. Herrold were there setting up. I set up the television to "Big Blue" and of course that was a challenge. I have no idea how cords can ever become that tangled. Anyway, some of the teachers from Saturday came to see us in action and we showed them the moon, the Orion Nebula, Venus, and Mars with a green filter which required me taking the camera out of the telescope so we didn't mess around the the VCR too much. Through all of this Zach lost his keys... and we spent a good I don't know hour looking for them in the grass, in the office, down the drains in his car everywhere. They ended up being in his trunk.... ridiculous. The boys tried to find comet Garrard with the laser and the Giant binoculars but I don't think they ever did find it. Saturn came out at about 10:30 but by then I had to go since there was ACT testing the next day.
Friday, March 10th, 2012
Had Richard and Chris come over to my house, we couldn't find Zach and/or he decided to not answer his phone. They finally got to see my telescope, it IS real. Anyway, my viewfinder is broken so it was really hard to find anything, then I found out my lenses were extremely dirty. Chris used his little kit and cleaned them as I made him some tea. I used my 25 with barlow to look at the moon, and I couldn't even find that. To make it worse it was extremely cold. I tested in on Procyon and I could find that. I attempted to find things in the big dipper... I didn't get far. I'm going to try to fix the finder tomorrow and try it out tomorrow night since it's supposed to be clear.
Saturday, March 11th, 2012
We moseyed on over to Liggett track field.............................. wow. This will definitely be our new observing spot, you could see literally everything and it was such a dark sky with hardly any clouds (until Chris showed up, of course). I came from a dinner at a family friend's house so I couldn't bring my scope, but I had a lovely time observing with my eyes. Mars' reddish color was clearly visible, and at about 10:30 Saturn was about, prospectively, four to five inches away from the moon. I think Chris found the dark eye nebula... I don't know, he has this awesome habit of finding things and not telling us until he's moved to a completely different part of the sky. A nice thing being on a track field is when you're cold you can just run the track! By the end of the night I'd say I ran that track about four times... good conditioning for tennis. We also had a hug fest and I got taught how to put someone in a head lock. Very productive and fun night. :)
Thursday, April 5th, 2012
Zach, Chris, Scott, Scott's friend Ryan, and I all observed at my house started at around 8:30. I set it up all nice with a tarp, two chairs, and a table to put all our random lens and such on, I was impressed with myself. My stupid view finder is still broken, and I have no idea if there's a battery or not so I had to attempted to find things with no finder. I found the basics including the moon, venus, and the orion nebula but I mostly piggy backed on whatever Zach and Chris were looking at. I know Chris found comet Garrard within the night and much else. I can't wait until the weather is actually WARM because I can't stand these freezing cold nights of having to put on numerous layers of tights on. Arizona can't come soon enough.
Tuesday, June 5th, 2012Today we came to school at about six to watch the transit of Venus. Unfortunatly, it was overcast, but when we got a break in the clouds we could see Venus through the solar glasses Mrs. Herrold provided. Chris got all his professional photographer set up to take a picture but I got a lovely picture through Big Blue with just my iPhone (it's posted in my photos). It was very interesting to see the planet in perspective of the sun. However, being sensative to light this project kinda sucked for me, but I'm a trooper! This was quite a once-in-alifetime experience, literally.